I believe that the Extropians list has been around a good while longer than
that. I recall participating back in the early 90s. Anybody remember to
online pledge drive? The list's first malicious email bomber? Boy, those
were, uh, . . . days.

I doubt that hanging around a long time automatically makes anyone very
influential. To the contrary, many old-timers, having grown weary of the
many, many recurring debates, probably post infrequently. Relative newbies
thus seldom recognize the names of their listserv elders. And, at any rate,
I should think that Extropians accord little merit to mere seniority.